The New Jersey Devils spent the entire day trying to work on a Johnny Gaudreau contract. For a while, it looked like his free agency services were between the Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and New York Islanders. When Gaudreau turned down the Calgary Flames’ massive contract offer, which some say was as much as $80 million in total, most said it was understandable because it was about going home. Then, he signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Wait, what?
Yeah, after all this, the biggest free agent on the market signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They weren’t even sniffing around Gaudreau until very late in the process, and they ended up winning it all. He’s taking his 115-point season to Ohio.
The confusing part is knowing he made this move to get closer to home. However, Columbus is still a seven-hour drive to Philadelphia. He was born in Salem, NJ and he grew up in Glouchester City which is right across the bridge from the City of Brotherly Love.
It seemed like Gaudreau wanted to go to Philly, but they just didn’t have the cap space to make it happen. Gaudreau started to consider his other options, and that seemed to be New Jersey or Long Island. They could both finagle some cap space (the Devils just have the cap space), and they were in on trying to be more competitive from here on out.
The Devils now have to figure out what to do next. They made some smart moves throughout the day, but having to see a division rival, a surprise one at that, steal Gaudreau from under them hurts. What hurts even more is the price. The rumor mill started buzzing that Gaudreau was asking for $12 million per season. That’s Connor McDavid money. Instead, his contract came in at much lower than that.
Reports say the Devils were willing to go to $10.5 million per season. The reports might have been completely off. However, the Devils not wowing the Gaudreau camp before he accepted a deal to Columbus is a terrible blow for the front office. It’s not even like the Blue Jackets are a long-term contender. They have some pieces, but they seem like they have bigger flaws than the Devils overall.
Tom Fitzgerald needs to make a huge move now. The Devils’ top six is still very weak outside of Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. Jesper Bratt still isn’t signed, and the fanbase is already impatient.
Even with other Metropolitan teams falling by the wayside in terms of talent, the Devils as of right now are nowhere near a playoff team. The goaltending questions surround them still, and the top six isn’t good enough to overcome that. They are a better team than the worst of the rebuild, but losing out on Gaudreau puts them in a hole they need to fill.